Chapter 4
Prudence gritted her teeth. This couldn’t be happening.
She had been so close! So close to escaping the oppression of this day, to returning to the life she wanted to lead. And now, she found herself right back where she’d started, facing yet another marriage she didn’t want.
She had to do something. She couldn’t allow everything to be decided without her so much as getting a word in about it.
“Your Grace,” she said, “may I speak to you? Privately?”
He raised his eyebrows. “You seem to have an unfortunate habit of trying to get gentlemen on their own, Lady Prudence.”
“If we are to marry, you could give me the dignity of a conversation,” she retorted. “We need not even leave the room. But I would like to go somewhere we can talk without being overheard—without others contributing unwanted thoughts and opinions.”
She turned away from him and walked off toward the corner of the room, desperately hoping that he would follow her but afraid to look back to make sure that he was. Only when she had reached the corner did she dare to venture a glance backward.
And there he was, standing closer to her than he had so far.
Now, for the first time, she picked up his scent, a sandalwood musk that was like nothing she’d ever smelled before.
Was this what all men were like? She knew plenty, of course, but it was rare for her to be in such close proximity to one.
A part of her suspected she ought to step back, to put more distance between them, but she felt drawn to him for reasons she couldn’t quite describe.
“Well?” he asked. “We don’t have all day. Whatever it is you wish to say, I suggest you say it quickly so that we can get on with things.”
She took a deep breath. “Your Grace, I understand that you are concerned with appearances, but I think you are being hasty,” she said.
“And I think you are denying the reality of the situation once again, just as you did before. It’s vital that we marry for both our families’ sakes.”
“And you think that you have the right to make that decision on my behalf?” she asked him. “Without even speaking to me about what I want? I didn’t want to marry your brother, Your Grace. What makes you think I would want to marry you?”
He sighed. “Lady Prudence, I say this with as much respect as I can. What you want is not a factor here. Neither of us can afford to think about what we want right now. The situation is too dire. We must act for our mutual benefit. If you were so concerned about doing what you wanted to do, you should have remained indoors that night instead of going out onto a balcony with my brother. You made your choice.”
“I didn’t go out there with him. Didn’t he tell you what happened?”
The Duke folded his arms across his chest and surveyed her passively, saying nothing.
“I was out there on my own,” she said. “I’d gone out for some fresh air, and he joined me on the balcony.
I never meant for anything to happen between the two of us.
” She paused, wondering whether she ought to share the aggressive moment she’d witnessed between Peter and the other lady, but she decided to keep that to herself.
It wasn’t likely that the Duke would respond well to hearing something negative about his brother, even though he must know the kind of man Peter was.
“You should have been chaperoned,” the Duke said. “If you had been, none of this would have happened. You have to take responsibility for the things you cause in this world, Lady Prudence.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Everyone knows you’re a rebellious one. Everyone knows you ran out on one wedding already and that your parents have found it difficult to make you a match.” He shook his head. “People know this about you, and you cannot expect it to be overlooked.”
Anger spiked within her. “And what of your brother? Getting into fights at the pub?”
“What would you know about that sort of thing?”
Prudence could have bitten her tongue. Of course, there was no way she could know about the fight at the pub—no way she could explain to the Duke, that was. “I hear things,” she said evasively.
“Well, I don’t care what you hear. I don’t care what you think of my brother. What I care about is this—you need to take these events seriously. You need to understand that there is only one way out of the situation in which we find ourselves now. You must marry me.”
“You cannot force me.”
“Of course, I can’t. But your father can, and he seems as if he is pleased with the idea, doesn’t he?
I have to tell you, Lady Prudence, I feel as though you are wasting everyone’s time by putting up a fuss about this when we could have had the whole affair over and done with by now.
We could be on our way home. I do have other things to do today, you know. ”
“Oh, well, I’m so very sorry that I haven’t rushed to the altar quickly enough to accommodate your schedule!
” Prudence snapped. “You seem to have no consideration whatsoever for how difficult this is for me, and it doesn’t make me feel good about the prospect of having you as a husband in the slightest.”
“How you feel about it is your own business.” His eyes flashed. “But it is what must happen. It’s what is going to happen.”
She was transfixed by him. The height of him, towering over her, so much taller than she had ever dreamed a man would be. The crystalline blue of his eyes. She recalled the day she had first seen him in the pub and how much more interesting she had found him than his brother.
If I had been choosing for myself—choosing one of them I wanted to marry—he would have been the choice every time. I would never have wanted Peter over him.
That doesn’t mean I wanted him. I never did. I can’t believe he thinks he can just step in and marry me—as if it makes no difference who I marry!
But she also knew that, to everyone present, it didn’t make any difference. They were simply eager to see her married. They didn’t care who she was married to at all.
She would have to try to persuade someone to see things her way. She pushed past the Duke and surveyed her family members, trying to decide which of them could be trusted—which of them might take her side.
They were all watching her. They had clearly been waiting for her to finish discussing things with the Duke. “Are you ready now?” her father asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Father, do you really expect me to marry this man?”
“I don’t know what you mean, Prudence. You came here today to get married, didn’t you? Now, you’re asking me if I expect you to get married? Of course, I do. It’s the reason we’re here.”
“But I was supposed to marry a man who didn’t arrive. You can’t just push the closest available man to the altar.”
“No one is pushing the Duke anywhere,” her father reminded her. “He has made us an offer, Prudence, and it is a good one. You’ll be a duchess, just like your sisters.”
“I have no desire to be a duchess.”
“No, of course, you don’t,” her father sighed.
“You’ve never had any desire to do anything that could be perceived as good or helpful to this family.
You care only for yourself. You cannot avoid this.
Remain here with your mother, please, while His Grace and I go and talk to the pastor.
We’ll make the arrangements to change the marriage license, and hopefully, we will be able to get this done with no further delays. ”
He walked off in the direction of the Duke, leaving Prudence with the clear understanding that she had been dismissed yet again and that this was all going to happen without her input being considered at all.
Is there truly nothing I can do to prevent it? Will I spend the rest of my life shackled to this man, all because no one was willing to listen to me?
She tried to console herself. At least it wasn’t Peter.
That had been her greatest fear of all, and she was grateful to have escaped that outcome.
And yet, the escape she’d believed for a moment that she had made now seemed like nothing at all, for she would still have to marry today. There seemed no way out of it.
She looked over at her mother and was shocked by the expression of concern on her face.
Baroness Highgate was not the sort of woman to allow herself to worry about things.
Her usual way was to assure herself, and everyone around her, that everything was all right even as things began to fall apart.
But today, she seemed unable to draw upon her usual determination to ignore the troubles around her.
She seemed genuinely bothered by something.
Prudence longed to ask her what it was—but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
She couldn’t rely on her mother to take her side.
She’d trusted her mother once before when her mother had interceded on her behalf to stop a truly dreadful marriage from taking place.
She had let herself believe that she would have an ally in future arrangements.
But she couldn’t trust that. That much was apparent to her now.
Her mother wanted to see her married today.
Whatever she was worried about, it wasn’t going to help Prudence to escape from the situation she was in.
There was no escape.
It was only minutes later that the pastor, her father, and the Duke returned. Prudence’s father was smiling, and the sight of it made Prudence’s heart sink, for there was only one thing that could have made him smile like that—he had gotten his way.
She didn’t even bother trying to resist when he came to her side, took her arm, and walked her to the front of the church.
The only option left to her would be to jerk her arm free and run out the back door, and she had run away too many times in her life.
She would be found and dragged back, she knew all too well.
And this time, there would be no escaping the noose.
Now or later, she would be forced to marry.
And although she didn’t like to admit it, there was something else driving her to give in today as well.
If she was going to have to marry, the idea of a marriage to the Duke was not exactly the worst thing she could think of.
There were many worse men out there—Peter Hall would have been one of them.
The Duke was angry and disrespectful, to be sure, but she had never seen any signs of violence from him—and he intrigued her.
At the very least, this would not be boring.
Still, as the marriage ceremony was performed, and Prudence spoke her vows, she could feel her freedom slipping through her fingers.
She had come so close to escaping this.
But in the end, perhaps she should have realized that there was no real chance of getting away. It had always been too much to hope for.
The net of marriage had finally closed around her.